EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil stocks drop as state-run firms sink

Reuters Staff

4 Min Read

* Brazil's Bovespa falls 0.96 pct, Mexico's IPC down 0.15
pct
SAO PAULO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks slipped for
the third session in four on Tuesday, due mostly to a fall in
shares of state-run companies Banco do Brasil and Petrobras.
Mexico's IPC index edged lower, while Chile's bourse
rose its most in nearly two weeks.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index fell 0.96
percent to 52,117.81, a level it has not closed below in over
two months.
Shares of state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA
, known as Petrobras, fell 1.5 percent, contributing
the most to the index's decline.
The shares had risen slightly in early trading after an
extraordinary board meeting was announced for Petrobras on
Tuesday, with traders speculating that the company could be in
negotiations with the government over a fuel price hike.
Petrobras imports fuel to meet domestic demand while
reselling it at a loss at the government's insistence as a means
to tamp down inflation.
The shares dropped back into negative territory soon after,
when Finance Minister Guido Mantega, who also serves as the
chairman of Petrobras' board, told reporters that fuel prices
were not on the meeting's agenda.
Shares of fellow state-run company Banco do Brasil SA
dropped over 5 percent, their biggest loss in over
four months, after the company said consumer loan growth would
likely slow for the rest of 2013.
"The market is seeing the results and beginning to look
ahead to 2014, when we may have an economy that isn't so
strong," said Felipe Rocha, an analyst with Omar Camargo
Corretora in Curitiba, Brazil.
Rocha added that investors may also be seeing an opportunity
to take profits following four straight monthly gains in the
stock.
Mexico's IPC index slumped for a seventh straight
session, losing 0.15 percent to 39,628.36.
Shares of bottling firm Femsa dropped 0.7
percent, contributing most to the index's losses, while
conglomerate Alfa rose 1.5 percent.
Chile's IPSA index gained 0.64 percent to 3,801.46,
boosted by a 1.6 percent rise in shares of conglomerate Copec
and a 1.7 percent gain in regional energy group Endesa
Chile.
Shares of LATAM Airlines rose 1.1 percent after the
company said its operating margin improved in the third quarter.
Latin America's key stock indexes at 1623 GMT:
Stock indexes daily % YTD %
Latest change change
MSCI LatAm 3,229.15 -0.53 -14.52
Brazil Bovespa 52,117.81 -0.96 -14.49
Mexico IPC 39,628.36 -0.15 -9.33
Chile IPSA 3,801.46 0.64 -11.62
Chile IGPA 18,765.51 0.48 -10.94
Argentina MerVal 5,347.20 -1 87.34
Colombia IGBC 13,276.63 -1.50 -9.78
Peru IGRA 15,892.93 -0.33 -22.96
Venezuela IBC 2,515,047.2 -1.61 433.49
7